Improvement in feed-motion for sewing-machines



UNITED STATES' IPATENT Chir-Ice..

ABM. BARTHOLF, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN FEED-MOTION 'OR SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 17,825, dated July 2l, 1857.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ABM. BARTHOLF, of the city, county, and State ofNew York, have invented -a new and useful Improvement in the Feed-Motion of Sewing-Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact ydescription of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, Amaking part of this specification, in which- Figurel is aback view of a feed-motion with my improvement. Fig. 2 isa vertical section of the same in a plane at right angles to thev plane of Fig. 1 and to the direction ofthe movement of the cloth. Fig. 8 is a horizontal section of the same.`

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to the rotary or wheel feed, and it consists in certain novel, simple, and effective means of producing and control- -ling the movement Aof the feeding-wheel.

A is part of the table on which the cloth or other material to be sewed is laid.

B is the feeding-wheel having a toothedI or roughened peripherical surface, which protrudes through an opening in the table A in the usual manner.

C is the pressure-foot, which confines the cloth to the surface of the wheel.

Thewheel is iitted to rotate on a shaft, D, which shaft is sustained in the line of its axis between the points of two center screws, a a, or may be otherwise supported, so as to be capable of a concentric oscillating motion. The shaft D is provided with a fast flange, b,

- that is faced to fit one side of the feed-wheel,

and on the-other side of the feed-wheel B a broad loose collar, E, is tted to a screwthread, c, on the shaft, and faced to fit against the wheel, so that by being turned in one direction on the-shaft thesaid loose collar working on the screw thread'will move lengthwise toward the wheel and clamp the latter firmly against the fast flange b, thereby attaching the wheel'rmly to the shaft and compelling both the shaft and wheel to turn with the collar;

but by being turned in the other direction the said loose collar will work back again on the screw away from the wheel, and thus liberate the latter from the shaft, so as to permit the shaft to turn'independently of the wheel. The

flange b is extended in one direction from the 'thus to leave the wheel free upon the shaft D,

and the spring` g, pulling the lever G toward a stop-nut, k, on a fixed screw, d. The feedwheel has friction p roducedup on it by a spring, j, secured to some stationary part of the machine. The mechanism operates upon the feedingwheel to` produce and control its motion in the following manner: rlhe cam H, which is set slightly in advance of G upon the shaft F, (as shown in Fig. l ,where the direction of the rotation of the shaft is indicated by an arrow,) raises the lever E and turns the loose collar E upon the shaft D, and causes the said co1- lar, by its longitudinal movement on the screwthread, to clamp the wheel 'against the fast flange b, after which the continued action of the cam upon the lever turns both the shaft and the feeding-wheel, and thus causes the wheel to move the cloth or other material being sewed. As the most prominent part of the cam passes the lever H, the spring h pulls back the lever E and turns back the collar E upon the shaft D, and thus causes the said col- I lar, by its movement 4on the screwthread c, to

move away from the wheel and set itfree. The

4cam G, following the cam H in -its operation, comes to the support of the lever b just as the leverv F/ begins to return, and thus holding up the said lever b and preventing the immediate return of the shaft D, causes the iiange b, bythe friction of the latter upon the wheel, to aid the friction-spring j in holding the feeding-Wheel till it is fairly unclamped, and thus preventing its return with the collar E 5 but the most prominent part of the cam G', passing thelever b shortly after the unclamping of the feedingwheel, allows the spring g to draw back the lever b as far as the stop-nut 7c, and return the shaft, 4leaving the feeding-wheel held by the friction-spring j, which is then sufficient to prevent the return of the said wheel. The

length of feed is varied by raising or lowering the distance of the return of the shaft from the unvarying position to which it is moved by the action of the collar E. 1

What Iclaini as my invention, and desire to secure by'Letters Patent, is-

l. Giving the necessary motion to the feeding-Wheel substantially as herein described through the agency of a collar, E, or its equivalent, Which,by being turned in one direction around a central shaft fitted loosely in said Wheel, is caused to move longitudinally on the said shaft toward the wheel, and thus clamp the wheel in one direction parallel with the length of the shaft against a flange, b, or its equivalent, fast on the shaft, and thus to carry with it both the shaft andwheelin a circular direction, but which, on being turned in the reverse direction, is caused to move in'the reverse direction parallel with the shaft, and

thus to liberate the shaft from the feed-Wheel and' allow it to return Without the said Wheel.

2. The attachment rigidly to the loose feed- Wheel shaft of a lever, b, or its equivalent, so operated by a cam, G, or its equivalent, that when the loose clamping-collar E, or its equivalent, is allowed to return after having given motion to the shaft and feed-Wheel together, the shaft is temporarily prevented returning with the clamping-collar or equivalent, and thus the friction between the Wheel and the fast flange or projection, against which the wheel has been clamped by the clampingcollar, is made to aid in preventing the return of the wheel with the loose clamping-collar or its equivalent, substantially as herein set forth.

' ABM. BARTHOLF.

Vitnesses VILLIAM TUsoH, HENRY T. BROWN. 

